tern

noun

1. any of numerous aquatic birds of the subfamily Sterninae of the family Laridae, related to the gulls but usually having a more slender body and bill, smaller feet, a long, deeply forked tail, and a more graceful flight, especially those of the genus Sterna, as S. hirundo (common tern), of Eurasia and America, having white, black, and gray plumage.

noun

1. a set of three.
2. three winning numbers drawn together in a lottery.
3. a prize won by drawing these.

noun

1. any aquatic bird of the subfamily Sterninae, having a forked tail, long narrow wings, a pointed bill, and a typically black-and-white plumage: family Laridae (gulls, etc), order Charadriiformes

noun

1. a three-masted schooner
2. rare a group of three

n.gull-like shore bird (subfamily Sterninae), 1670s, via East Anglian dialect, from a Scandinavian source (cf. Danish terne, Swedish tärna, Færoese terna) related to Old Norse þerna “tern,” cognate with Old English stearn “starling.”